Because we know that you are interested in taking your strategy related to content marketing to the next level this year, we thought we should look at things through a different lens. While the content strategies that are in trend this year should be on your radar too, we have realized that there are a few mistakes that even seasoned veterans keep making!
Content marketing is important when it comes to building a strong rapport with your audience, in particular when it comes to growing your lead list, and crucial for boosting sales. That’s why wherever you are in your marketing journey, things can get confusing and there are some mishaps happening when approaching different strategies and techniques related to this type of marketing.
Whether you are just starting your journey with your website and your brand, you are new to content marketing or you are already elbows deep into the strategy, we are sure that you will find these common mistakes professionals make useful! Give our list a read and see if you happen to be making these mistakes and what you should do instead. Or maybe you are already changing them and just looking to learn more. We are sure you may just find an interesting solution down below.
Not Determining Content Goals
This is not related to how many people you want your article to be shared with, but rather about what other goals the article should have. Of course, you are writing in order to hit your target audience, so everything you create should have them in mind: From topics to the way of addressing them, and from predicting their intent to presenting everything in a matter that will attract their attention.
It is important to think about to whom the article is designed to reach even before you start writing it: you may know what the winning idea is, but the way you present it is crucial. If you approach your task with your audience at the forefront of your mind, it will be easier to both identify your goals and reach them for each piece of content you design.
Obsessing Over One Type of Content
Obviously, a blog or a website that is based on writing is going to have an abundance of text all over their feed: it is, after all, all text-based content. But at one point it becomes dull to see the same format over and over again, so you may want to diversify. This encapsulates everything that is different from the text: videos, audio, images and gifs, infographics, and more!
There is no limit to how you can use these to boost interest in your articles: you can insert more relevant pictures into your texts, maybe even base them on images altogether, think about making videos to accompany your texts, add infographics to add a visual representation of your ideas and structure them in a way that is easier to comprehend. Depending on your topic, any or all of these can be integrated, even if they just appear on the landing page of your website.
Including different types of content into your rooster of posts will not only keep your current readers entertained but also lead to more people finding your site.
Misunderstanding Your Target Audience
A lot of businesses do not take the time to look at their analytics and then make a plan that will work based on their target audience. Imagine you are trying to change a tire, but you do not know anything about it: the size, the type, the brand you need, so you just have to buy one blindly. You would not do that, because it would be a shot in the dark, so you should think about your business in the same way. Do not gamble with your content, because the effectiveness of it would also be a gamble.
Instead, spend those precious moments analyzing your customers then devise a plan that would work: from content to the best way of presenting it to them. The best thing to do would be to segment your audience into lists that are specific: maybe your audience is not only segmented by age but by interests as well.
You would have a better turnaround if you delivered your content based on what you think would work only towards those who would be interested in it, rather than send it to the whole list. If you keep gambling and sending everything you create to everyone, you risk boring or annoying the ones who have no interest in your topic, which instead of creating more engagement with your site will have the opposite effect and they could even never look at it ever again.
Ignoring the Value of Readers’ Feedback
This is by far one of the most common mistakes that businesses do: you should not wait until you potentially do something really bad to gather feedback, instead you should steadily collect it. This is the best way to make sure that your content pleases your audience in a way that makes them both appreciate you, but also makes them want to return.
It may sound daunting to gather feedback, but in reality, it is as easy as posing a question at the end of your article or blog post. You would be surprised just how eager some people are to share their opinion: some even do so without prompting. Using these questions will build rapport with your audience, and give you an insight into what they want, so you can attract the same types of people to your sites, thus boosting your engagement while enlarging your audience.
Not only that, but chances are that if you have a successful site, you can also have a successful social media presence: not only can this lead to people finding out about your business, but it can also help with gathering feedback and improving. You can also use social media to your advantage, by seeing what your competition is doing and possibly using what works for them to your advantage, or by also engaging in meaningful conversations with experts and consumers.
Most importantly, make sure you keep a close eye on how people engage with your posts: this is the most subtle form of feedback, and an easy, effective way to know what to amplify in your content marketing strategy.
